1924 — Edith Tolkien gives birth to Christopher. J.R.R. accepts a position as Professor of English Language at Leeds.

1925 — July - J.R.R. Tolkien is elected to the Rawlinson and Bosworth Chair of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford. He is admitted to a non-stipendiary professorial fellowship at Pembroke College in October 1926. His edition (with E.V. Gordon) of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is published.

1967 — Publication of both The Road Goes Ever On and Smith of Wotton Major.

1968 — BBC radio broadcasts an eight-part (4-hour) adaptation of The Hobbit. Tolkien originally sold the film, stage and merchandise rights of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to United Artists but nothing came of it. The Tolkien family moves to Poole near Bournesmouth.

1976 — The rights to The Lord of the Rings are sold to Tolkien Enterprises, a division of the Saul Zaentz Company.

1977 — The Silmarillion is published posthumously, edited by Christopher Tolkien. Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay is credited with assisting Christopher. Rankin-Bass studios produced the first real film adaptation of any of Tolkien's works with an animated television version of The Hobbit.

1978 — Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings animated film is released by United Artists.